Thankyou regular JT posters. The JT contrarian index has been profitable again. Sony and Panasonic stocks have kicked arse. Also one of my best trades to date buying long term JGB futures where the JT contrarian index has been absolutely incredible. Please provide the next call, is it still Japan doomed; JGBs to the dunny and J companies all going under? Oh many thanks please keep it up...

When I was a kid in Australia in early primary school, my mates and I use to jump off roofs; hang off moving trains and trams; shoot air guns at each other with steel pellets; swim in unquantifiable rivers etc etc. Sure some serious injuries and even the rare deaths but that's part of growing up and becoming aware of danger . I also know a chick who was tethered to a tree because the parents were afraid she would hurt herself and now her mental trauma has created extreme introversion into adulthood. As parents we can only do so much to protect our children but over-protection is as worse as putting your kid in a box.

Japan is the 97 lb weakling that gets sand kicked in his face at the beach from the bully who is now fed up and taking the Charles Atlas course with extras from Count Dante and his Dim Mak death touch...

Japanese politicians take note, you can't be corrupt and increase taxes at the same time, tell the people of your support for tax decreases and you can enjoy the vote from the people while mingling with your gangster buddies and shooting up...

Talk is cheap but its about time that you doomsdayers put your money where your mouth is. What a fantastic time to short JGB's; short yen against USD, Euro, AUD, NZD, CAD; short Nikkei225 and buy credit default swaps. If Japan is going down the drain then you doomsdayers are absolutely nuts if you don't back the truck up and short all the Japanese worthless assets. Holy cow 10year JGBs at 0.6%! ; must be the short of the century!? Come on guys Japan is doomed isn't it with markets all being wrong with abundant mispricing...yen down the toilet, interest rates to the roof; short the mother, yeah baby!! ..go back home a billionaire!!

Just bring back the nuclear power plants, Its a no brainer, Choose, Japanese people, die economically sooner or die by a lottery death due to the probability of disaster. There is a time factor that the friggin environmentalists fail to realize...

My country, or at least from what I have seen, is far better. Certainly the cross guards, the group walking, the yellow hats... are much better here.

Why is it that the average Ms Smith loves to use her personal experiences as a proxy to a universal truism? Why? Its once again the 80% rule, the 80% "simpletons" complain, bitch about everything in any society they live in regardless of what the Government; their employer does. Give them a glass of mineral water and they will complain about the shape of the glass. There is no difference between Japanese or Canadian or Australian or US level of supervision of children.

Lasseiz faire is a Utopian concept that only exists in textbooks. Every G7 country has tariffs and quotas of varying degrees amongst other restrictive trade legislations. To site the unfair practices of individual countries in the TPP negotiations is a futile argument along the lines of the evil versus the lesser evil. The successful negotiation of the TPP makes up the majority of the third arrow of Abenomics where the delay has created criticism of the incumbent Government and failure of which will create an even further delayed contrasting Government strategy.

After the lasers, I still wake up after a heavy booze session in the gutter but with clear vision (although its often not the best thing to have when one looks at what is lying beside thee); a great alternative to waking up with contact lenses stuck to the eyeballs and fogged retinas. Unfortunately it still doesn't get rid of the agonizing hangover...

In all walks of life and especially with the financial markets, its usually the loud majority that is the "simple simon" view and the ones who can provide an objective realistic view are the minority. Multiply this ten fold when it comes to JT posts.

I have lived in Japan for 20 years, which is almost one third of my lifetime. I like living here but this constant revisionist crap wears you down and its a shame that all of the nation ends up painted by the same paint brush.
@zichi,
Its one daggy "oyaji" who put his foot into his gob. You're sick of it then go back to the UK where everything is "fair" and have rationalized their history to the satisfaction of all their historical enemies, at least it won't cause you to be worn down by the constant revisionist "nonsense".

Everyone agrees that the NHK president is a dag who couldn't keep his trap shut. Having said that its laughable that the tight butts here make this thing a magnanimous reason for not paying the NHK fees...

Its all very plain and simple, Woodford played his trump card, his knowledge about the vulnerable corrupt activities of the company made him a sht load of money. It has got nothing to do with the "white knight exposing the bad guys" wishful thinking of a lot of the opinions here. To be fair, imagine what would happen to any employee in any of the major US investment banks if they tried to "expose" the dirt that happens in their "exciting" environment.....

Very common negative gaijin judgement here based on pure subjective culturally biased arguments . Yobo says that Abe is a loser because he lost it previously and should be condemned for life, disparaging all Japanese for supporting him. On the other hand, Japanese Mrs Watanabe believes that Abe lost face last time so this time round he would try his utmost to regain his composure and ensure a proper attempt to rebuild the country.

He has one thing in common with everyone in history who attempts to make a change (refer Maggie Thatcher as an example), massive criticism.

Japanese traffic fatality statistics from the Japanese National Police Agency use "death within 24 hours" for national monthly and annual comparisons to observe changing trends. They also provide a separate detailed statistical report for "death within 30 days" which is common amongst many countries for international comparison. Both timeframes have merits and demerits which can include or not include death from other causes. Insurance companies also have a need for varying "ageing" traffic fatality statistics.

I think most of the people posting have ignored the final paragraph of this article. The numbers are fiddled with to make them look good, as are most statistics in Japan.

How do you know that most statistics in Japan are fudged? That's simply biased BS like many posters here who resort to attacking any "good " published figures when they don't align to their negative views of the country.

There is without a doubt a problem with the low rates of autopsies in Japan due to the lack of professionals who can conduct them but that doesn't extrapolate to a national conspiracy of false statistics.